Translating a Song: The Lyrics of Hadestown

This thesis examines how performer feedback influences the translation of songs for musical theatre, focusing on how such input can shape and refine initial translation decisions. Centering on a case study of selected songs from Hadestown, the research adopts an autoethnographic, two-phase methodology. The first phase involved producing initial translations based on established theoretical models, most notably Peter Low’s Pentathlon Principle and Johan Franzon’s functional approach. In the second phase, professional musical theatre performers evaluated these translations through surveys and group interviews, offering both quantitative and qualitative feedback. The feedback revealed that performers prioritized musical accuracy and clarity, prompting revisions that improved phrasing and naturalness of the translated lyrics. These findings highlight the crucial role performers play in shaping translations that are not only linguistically accurate, but also performable, underscoring the value of collaborative approaches in musical theatre translation.